It beats a tent

I went to put something in the camper the other day to prepare it for the family reunion and there, in large permanent black felt letters across the back, was evidence that Jed had been there:

I have no idea how long the neighbours have been staring at that, since I don't see that side of the camper. They, of course, don't know the story of how we came to possess the Red Neck Camperette or the fact that the amount we paid for it can easily be made in one bet with Jimmy who doesn't believe a girl can know the difference between the Barrett Jackson Auto Auction and Barret Jackman the St Louis Blues defenseman.

Last summer we borrowed a travel trailer from D&V for the weekend and on our way out of town, we drove past this, let's say "well worn," camper sitting in a yard at the end of our street. It had bright red spray paint on it saying $50. Alb turns to me and says "If that's still there when we get back I'm gonna check it out."

Shockingly, no one had scooped up this lovely specimen of scrap metal and glass while we were gone. I told Alb he could only buy it if all the windows were intact. I was willing to camp Red Neck style, but not so far as to have cardboard and duct tape windows.

Alas, God was not on my side, and the windows were about the only thing intact. It had probably been abandoned in the bush for years. The roof leaked. The floor had 3 colours of linoleum in a 2x8 foot area. The walls and ceiling were black where a kerosene heater had covered everything in soot. There was the equivalent of 3 bags of leaves strewn about. There were enough spiders and bugs to start an insect zoo. The back door was basically just a shell where the interior wood had rotted off. There didn't appear to be any blood or body parts hidden within. And... the windows were intact.

We didn't haggle with the price, we just loaded 'er up on our beautiful shiny black and chrome Ford F350 Diesel fantasy truck while the guy stood there in horror, but glad to have 50 bucks in his pocket.

It only took 2 days of overhauling to shovel it out, throw on a coat of paint, put in a new foamy, hang some $1.99 per meter fabric on the windows, build some shelves in the closet, re-line the door and replace the handle, seal the roof with rubber paint, replace the the lino with a never-ending roll-end we had in the shop, and scrape the spray paint off the windows. And voila, for less than 200 bucks, we have luxury sleeping quarters!











By-the-way... the Red Neck Camperette will NOT be coming across Canada with us!